Gran Turismo Prologue. Greatest Racing Game Ever or A Game To Fill The Void?
First things first I must mention I bought this game in the shop so I didn't download it from PSN. On the back of the box it says it needs a 256kb install. However upon powering on it says it needs a 4gb install. Normally I wouldn't complain about this but it took almost 2 hours to install….I'm starting to feel slightly alarmed at the amount of times I am having to install onto my hard-drive while having the disc. I'm sure this is a worrying trend because 4-5gb a game will use up by 40gb hard drive in no time.
After an update the game was ready to play finally.
My first impressions were simply wow! The graphics and car detail is just simply stunning. I am a fan of Forza 2 but this blows those away and then some. The audio sound of the v8 engines mixed with the skidding sounds while braking is just a joy to behold!
There are 30 events to get your teeth into with 6 tracks to race on. In true GT fashion those tracks are also playable in reverse! So technically you have 12 tracks to unleash your inner maniac driver on to!
This sadly is where the niceties end for me.
The thing which stands out to me being a die hard racing fan and also an amateur racer in real life is the serious lack of dynamics with the cars and the environment. Example driving at 180mph seems no different to driving at 60mph. Going off a track and onto grass at 100mph+ plus feels really tacky. In real life this would be a nightmare as you can't put on the breaks hard due to fear of your rear sliding out putting you into an un-controllable spin. There are many instances of these things that just take away the illusion of actually racing. In the past Gran Turismo has always got these things down to a tee for their time and made them feel at least this generation. Sadly these dynamics feel really old like playing in history. This for me was one of the biggest let downs.
Then you have the tracks. 12 tracks might seem a lot but after you have been round them a few times they get boring and boring fast. The problem with GT is we already know most of the courses from previous GT's and while they have been graphically changed they feel slightly poor in comparison to other racing games such as Forza 2 and Sega Rally.
I am a huge GT fan just like most Europeans. You can keep your Metal Gears and your Final Fantasies give me a racing simulator any day and I'll be interested!
But I come away from playing Prologue slightly annoyed. Annoyed that online it isn't what it's cracked out to be but it is actually where the true game can be found. Single player is easy. Way to easy. The AI is really poor and the mechanics of the cars just don't feel real. Your opponents will hit into you at 150mph and just bounce off and regain there obvious pre-programmed racing line. It get's to the point where you know what the other computer players are likely to do and that simply isn't racing. In comparison to Forza 2 the AI would adapt to your style of racing because it knew if either of you messed up chances are you would fly off the track and total your car which would cost you money to fix etc. The problem with Prologue is it doesn't have these systems that penalise aggressiveness or reward cautiousness depending on the situation. It just feels like you're a tank on rails and if someone hits into you it won't matter and you can hit into your opponents and conveniently they will slide out of the way. Being a racer I can tell you if you hit someone at 100mph which braking for a corner you won't push them out of the racing line you will both lose control and go skidding off into the barriers due to velocity and the weight of gravity.
Maybe I am being too critical of the game?
But it's hard not to be. This is Gran Turismo! The daddy of the racing game, the innovator of everything that has rubber for wheels! How can they create this game and release it like it is?
Well here is the true reason.
Sony needed to release something and release something fast. We are at the 4th month pretty much of 2008 and Sony had not released one single exclusive game for the PS3. The PS3 has been having a bit of a comeback of late but the question is why? Have new games come out? No. Have Sony done anything great to change the worlds view? No. Have PS3's been selling off the shelves like hot cakes? No. So what is it? Well it is down to media hype nothing else. All of the PS3 owners are on places like gamespot preaching of how great the system is. They tell the stories of how great the games will be once they are released. Haven't we been here before? That's right 2007. This year is a carbon copy of last year in terms of consoles. You have the Wii releasing fun games left right and centre and you have the 360 releasing good games for the hardcore gamers out there. In fact both consoles have announced at least 5-10 new exclusive games for 2008 in the past month and were not even at E3 yet!
So why have Sony released this obvious demo then?
Reason is simple. Momentum. Right now the PS3 is having it's second wind. It won the format war and the Sony fanboys feels re-energised! Sony needed badly to get anything out there to keep this going and to make people think that this year will be a great year. Plus it needed to get this game out to Europe to combat the recent 360 price drop. But the main reason was to try and take a slice of the GTA4 console sales which on paper look very much in Microsoft's favour due to exclusive content. Us Europeans love GT, for us its defiantly worth buying a system for. But sadly Prologue isn't worth buying a system for and isn't worth £20 regardless of what reviewers on here or in the media say. There is nothing revolutionary about the game and it is very limited. It's a preview for what is to come in a years time. You will be bored of it within a few days I assure you. This should have been a free online multi-player game for the loyal PS3 supporters. Other games have done this to great success such as Battlefield2/COD4 etc.
But Sony chose to try and cash in on this game and I can't help but feel slightly ripped off by it. £20 for a few hours play that becomes very tedious doesn't seem fair. Installing 4gb onto my hd though im told Blu-Ray is superior to dvd doesn't seem right. There are so many negatives from this I'm seriously wondering what the future has in store for the real game. We have a year to go and that will be plenty of time to sort out the kinks. But if you are an un-biased racing fan looking for your next fix I would wait until the real game comes out. Prologue is nothing more then a game thrown out to fill a void of games.
2008 will be interesting to see what happens with the other AA games for the PS3. I for one will no go into them with sky high expectations like I had before this that is for sure!